Tag: Ruben Alonso

Just funded: AltCap Your Biz cycles trio of winners from KC’s diverse hospitality scene

By Tommy Felts / November 20, 2025

Persistence pays off, said Ruben Alonso, celebrating a decade of the AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition and its role as an energy boost for Kansas City small businesses. The latest winning founders walked away with $60,000 in checks Wednesday at Union Station. Two of this year’s top three winners were returning finalists, the AltCap CEO…

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Social venture’s pet grooming grads now empowered to earn microloans thanks to trio of KC backers

By Tommy Felts / May 28, 2024

Graduates of Kansas City-based Pawsperity’s pet grooming training programs are now eligible to apply for RISE Microloans to launch or grow their businesses — an opportunity boosted by an economic equity initiative to provide microloans to fledgling entrepreneurs. The Plaza Rotary Club program, RISE Microloan (short for Rotary Investing & Supporting Equity), is offered through AltCap,…

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$500K Etsy grant expected to help AltCap offer microloans to artists, creative entrepreneurs

By Tommy Felts / April 14, 2023

AltCap this week announced a new partnership with the global marketplace Etsy to provide microloans to artists and creative entrepreneurs in America’s Heartland.  Etsy has awarded AltCap, an impact-focused small business lender, a $500,000 grant to provide $1,000 to $10,000 loans through the ARTcap Microloan Fund to artists and creative entrepreneurs in Kansas, Missouri and…

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AltCap launches Heartland expansion to aid more small biz typically overlooked by lenders

By Tommy Felts / April 7, 2023

An expanded geographic footprint for AltCap will see the Kansas City-based small business lender make capital more accessible for entrepreneurs in Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado. The mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) finances small businesses and community-driven real estate development projects that create more economically-inclusive communities. “AltCap’s expansion has better positioned us for long…

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AltCap team at the 2021 AltCap Your Biz competition during GEW KC

Kauffman grants $5.3M to AltCap to help those overlooked by lenders access capital

By Tommy Felts / February 15, 2022

Editor’s note: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a financial supporter of Startland News. A significant new grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is expected to help AltCap support the capitalization and administration of a fund that increases access to capital for entrepreneurs in distressed areas of Kansas City and for those whose credit applications…

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